nationbooksprojectofnation
large_book

Buy It Online
    Amazon >
    IndieBound.org >
    Powells.com >

The Samaritan's Dilemma

Should Government Help Your Neighbor?



Deborah Stone
June 2008     ISBN: 1568583540

For at least a generation, experts have warned us not reach out to others. Too much help makes people passive and dependent, we are told, and self interest is the only motive that spurs us to work and contribute to society. Liberals and conservatives alike have endorsed this new moral code for government. The Samaritan's Dilemma challenges this conventional wisdom. We are born needing help, we die needing help, and we live out our days getting and giving help. We live by everyday altruism. So when leaders define the ideal citizen as someone who pursues his self interest and withholds help from others, good people are repelled by politics.


What readers are saying

"We need each other. As this fine book reminds us, the recent American creed of hyper-individualism is making us less happy and more vulnerable—real solace lies in rebuilding the kind of communities that take care of everyone. Everyone."
—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future

"The Samaritan's Dilemma pinpoints the Orwellian perversion that is now our conventional wisdom—namely, that help for the needy is harmful and cruelty is a form of kindness. Thank you, Deborah Stone, for this powerful call to a moral reawakening!"
—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

Read more reviews of the book here and here.

About the Authors

Deborah Stone is the author of Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision-Making, which in 2002 won the Aaron Wildavsky Award from the American Political Science Association for its enduring contribution to policy studies. She is a founding editor of The American Prospect.



Watch the video from our past conversations, interviews and events. Includes items from The Nation Institute and TomDispatch. Click here.



Follow us on twitter at @nationbooks or @nationinstitute



Become a fan of Nation Books on Facebook

signup

for our FREE e-mail newsletter, a monthly dispatch of events, excerpts, commentary by Nation Books and Nation Institute writers.



Eugene Richards Exhibition at Fahey/Klein Gallery

June 18 - July 18 | Los Angeles, CA
Check out the work of Institute Fellow and acclaimed photographer Eugene Richards at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles which will be showing art from Richards' book, The Blue Room, beginning on June 18. The art opening is on June 18 from 7 to 9 p.m.

July 3 | 4 pm
Chris Hedges on The Dan and Dave Show
(WGSO 990 AM)
Join Nation Books author and Senior Institute Fellow Chris Hedges as he discusses how the Christian right has been able to paint Democrats as anti-Christian on The Dan and Dave Show at 4 p.m. EST. in the New Orleans metropolitan area. MORE

July 28 - 29
Serge Michel and Paolo Woods on The Leonard Lopate Show
(WNYC, NPR)
Listen to Nation Books authors Serge Michel and Paolo Woods (China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing's Expansion in Africa) talk to Leonard Lopate about their book. MORE

August 13 - 16
Muckraking for Bloggers: From the Investigative Fund
(Netroots Nation, Pittsburgh, PA)
The Investigative Fund will conduct a workshop, Muckraking for Bloggers, at the annual Netroots Nation conference this August in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Esther Kaplan, Investigative Editor at the IFUND, will be leading the workshop. Speakers include Lindsay Beyerstein, Brant Houston and Bill Bastone. MORE